Word
Unser alter Ofen war sehr klein.
Meaning
Our old oven was very small.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Unser alter Ofen war sehr klein.
Why does alt get the -er ending (alter) here?
This happens because of the possessive word unser (our). Ofen (oven) is a masculine noun in the nominative (subject) case. Because the word unser doesn't have a special ending to show that it is masculine, the adjective has to do that job. It takes the masculine nominative ending -er, becoming alter.
Why is the first word just unser and not unserer?
The possessive article unser follows the exact same pattern as the word ein (a/an). Since you would say ein Ofen (masculine nominative) with no extra ending on the article, you also say unser Ofen with no extra ending.
Why doesn't klein get an ending like alter does?
In German, adjectives only get endings when they are placed directly before the noun they describe. When an adjective comes after a verb like war (was) to describe the subject, it stays in its basic dictionary form. Therefore, it is just klein, with no ending.
Why are we using the nominative case for unser alter Ofen?
The oven is the subject of the sentence, meaning it is the main thing being described. The subject of a sentence always takes the nominative case.